In Spring 2021, I gave two well-received presentations that were also Continual Professional Development (CPD) units. My presentations centred around envisioning what a neurodiversity-led 2050 could look like.

29 May 2021: 14th International Conference on ADHD in Berlin: The first was part of a panel chat alongside fellow ADHD-ers Jane Sedgwick and Thomas Henson, and was chaired by consultant clinical psychologist and UK Adult ADHD Network President Dr Kobus van Rensburg. The session opened the conference, which was attended by 870 Europe-based mental health specialists from 17 countries (+ 6 languages and interpreters – almost as fabulous as Eurovision). Keynote speakers included leading ADHD authorities Professor Stephen Farone (who urged psychologists and psychiatrists to join in the conversation in neurodiversity!) and collaborator and mentor Professor Philip Asherson. Feedback include: ‘Your session was most definitely the star event!’; ‘excellent presentations which came straight from the heart’; Three unique and personal perspectives delivered to a large and appreciative audience’; ‘ there can be few better ways to start a health care professional conference than listening to the true experts’

11 June 2021: Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education (ADSHE) 20th Anniversary conference: This was a keynote for the attended by 186 dyslexia specialists. Feedback include: ‘Such a breath of fresh air’, ‘an eye opener’, ‘incredibly interesting perspective’, ‘Kai bubbles over with wonderful enthusiasm.

See images and selected feedback (including mine) below. Email to book and please do so least 2 months in advance. Charges depend on your EDI rates.

ABOUT: A masterclass to catalyse thinking and action about the role of neurodiversity and its creativity for social change, through a performance-lecture about what a neurodiversity-led future (in the year ‘2050’) could look like.

KEY WORDS: neurodiversity, creativity, social justice, social art, performance lecture, disability arts, artistic research, creative research, neurodivergent leadership

DESCRIPTION: I will begin with a version of a performance-lecture first presented to 130 Royal Society of Arts Fellows in Summer 2020. This will be followed by a discussion and Q&A on neurodiversity, and the importance of equity, diversity and inclusivity in the classroom and cultural spaces.

The performance-lecture presents a creative, neurodivergent and decolonised future. Situated in the year 2050, this vision celebrates – not ignore or punish –people with ‘non-standard’ cognitive, communication and learning modes, including those with dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism and more, and how these intersects with race, class and gender. 2050 is snappy – fast-paced, as well as impatient for change. 

What could a neurodiversity-led 2050 look like? In 30 years’ time, what would the autistic Greta Thunberg as President do? Instead of OBE/MBE/CBE, will we have NDEs – NeuroDiversity medals of Excellence? By the next generation, will universities finally stop failing or boring people who cannot sit still. Instead, will it reward interdisciplinarity and intellectual promiscuity with MASc and PhDs and celebrate the next generations of Leonardo Da Vinci-s, whose dyslexia and ADHD are behind his intellectual and creative restlessness?By 2050, will ‘neurodiversity’ be actually diversified, queered and de-teritorialised, and we stop using the excuse of the fight against ableism and neuro-normativity to perpetuate white privilege, racism and elitism, but truly celebrate people in all shades and interpretations, identifications and presentations of neurodiversities?

VIDEO RECORDING OF PERFORMANCE-LECTURE: Delivered on Teams to University of Reading, Summer 2020.

RELATED LINKS 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Abraham, Anna et al. 2006 ‘Creative Thinking in Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)’ Child Neuropsychology 12/2:111–123

Adams, Jon 2016 ‘Jon Adams on autism, diagnosis and creativity | Network Autism’ Available at: https://network.autism.org.uk/knowledge/insight-opinion/jon-adams-autism-diagnosis-and-creativity Accessed 25.4.2019

Agrawal, Anupam & Rook, Caroline 2013 ‘GLOBAL LEADERS IN EAST AND WEST – DO ALL GLOBAL LEADERS LEAD IN THE SAME WAY?’ in 2013 Advances in Global Leadership Emerald: 36

AHRC 2019 ‘AHRC Delivery Plan 2019’ Available at: https://ahrc.ukri.org/documents/strategy/ahrc-delivery-plan-2019/ Accessed 15.8.2020

Ahsan, Hamja 2017 Shy Radicals: The Anti-systemic Politics of the Introvert Militant: Hamja Ahsan N Power ed.

All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts Health and Wellbeing 2017 Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing – Second Edition

ANTI Festival of Contemporary Art 2015 ‘PechaKucha Night Kuopio vol. 9: My Life in Running’ ANTI Available at: http://antifestival.com/en/tapahtuma/pechakucha-night-kuopio-vol-9-my-life-in-running/ Accessed 13.2.2018

Arts and Humanities Research Council 2020 ‘Leadership Fellows’ Available at: https://ahrc.ukri.org/funding/apply-for-funding/current-opportunities/leadershipfellows/ Accessed 30.8.2020

Arts Council England 2013 ‘Diversity and skills’ Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-mission-and-strategy/goal-4-diversity-and-skills Accessed 31.12.2019

  2019 ‘Culture Change toolkit | Arts Council England’ Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/culture-change-toolkit#section-1 Accessed 3.3.2020

  2020 ‘Strategy 2020_2030 Arts Council England.pdf’ Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Strategy%202020_2030%20Arts%20Council%20England.pdf Accessed 27.1.2020

  ‘Leadership and governance’ Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/advice-and-guidance-library/leadership-and-governance Accessed 3.1.2020

Austin, Robert D & Pisano, Gary P 2017 ‘Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage’ Harvard Business Review /May–June 2017

Aylesworth, Andy & Cleary, Richard 2020 ‘Reawakening creativity for business leaders: Removing obstacles’ Journal of Education for Business 95/4:248–254s

Batliwala, Srilatha 2010 Feminist Leadership for Social Transformation: Clearing the Conceptual Cloud

Billing, Leila 2020 ‘What does feminist leadership look like in a pandemic?’ Medium Available at: https://medium.com/@leila_billing/what-does-feminist-leadership-look-like-in-a-pandemic-35b2ee0eb994 Accessed 25.4.2020

Branson, Richard 2019 ‘Dyslexia and imagination’ Virgin Available at: https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/dyslexia-and-imagination Accessed 31.8.2020

British Council 2019 ‘Creative play in the digital age’ Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/programmes/creative-play Accessed 1.9.2020

  2020 ‘About Disability Arts International’ Disability Arts International Available at: https://www.disabilityartsinternational.org/about-us/ Accessed 10.5.2020

Brown, George W & Harris, Tirril 1978 Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women

Burnham, Andy 2019 ‘Making Greater Manchester Autism Friendly 2019-2022’ Available at: https://www.gmhsc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GMHSCP-Autism-Doc-FINAL.pdf Accessed 5.9.2020

Burns, James MacGregor 1978 Leadership

Clore Leadership 2019 ‘Fresh Perspectives, New Horizons | The Clore Leadership Programme’ Available at: https://www.cloreleadership.org/news-events/news/fresh-perspectives-new-horizons Accessed 1.9.2020

  2020 ‘Crisis Management | The Clore Leadership Programme’ Available at: https://www.cloreleadership.org/cultural-leadership/crisis-management Accessed 7.4.2020

Consilium Research and Consultancy 2018 ‘Leadership, workforce development and skills in the arts, creative and cultural sector: Evidence Review | Arts Council England’ Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication/leadership-workforce-development-and-skills-arts-creative-and-cultural-sector-evidence Accessed 3.1.2020

Cummings, Dominic 2020 ‘‘Two hands are a lot’ — we’re hiring data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos…’ Dominic Cummings’s Blog Available at: https://dominiccummings.com/2020/01/02/two-hands-are-a-lot-were-hiring-data-scientists-project-managers-policy-experts-assorted-weirdos/ Accessed 3.1.2020

Disability Arts Online 2020 ‘About’ Disability Arts Online Available at: https://disabilityarts.online/about/ Accessed 10.5.2020

Gardner, Lyn 2020 ‘BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE RELAXES’ Battersea Arts Centre Available at: https://bac.org.uk/battersea-arts-centre-relaxes/ Accessed 31.8.2020

Grant, David 2010 That’s the Way I Think: Dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and dyscalculia explained 3 edition ed Routledge

Greven, Corina U; Buitelaar, Jan K & Salum, Giovanni A 2018 ‘From positive psychology to psychopathology: the continuum of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder’ Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 59/3:203–212

Hartmann, Thom 1997 Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception

Hawkins, Harriet 2019 ‘Geography’s creative (re)turn: Toward a critical framework’ Progress in Human Geography 43/6:963–984

Hersey, Paul; Blanchard, Kenneth H & Johnson, Dewey E 1996 Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources

Hewison, Robert 2019 ‘Changing cultures: transforming leadership in the arts, museums and libraries’ Cultural Trends 28/1:73–74

House, Robert et al. 2002 ‘Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE’ Journal of World Business 37/1:3–10

Jones, Sophie A 2020 ‘Minimalism’s Attention Deficit: Distraction, Description, and Mary Robison’s Why Did I Ever’ American Literary History 32/2:301–327

Kapp, Steven K et al. 2013 ‘Deficit, difference, or both? Autism and neurodiversity’ Developmental Psychology 49/1:59–71

Keamy, Ron 2016 ‘Creative leadership? ‘It’s just the norm’’ School Leadership & Management 36/2:151–168

King’s College London and Sue Hoyle 2018 Changing cultures: Transforming leadership in the arts, museums and libraries

LaFrance, Edith (Dee) Bird 1997 ‘The gifted/dyslexic child: Characterizing and addressing strengths and weaknesses’ Annals of Dyslexia 47/1:163–182

Latham, Alan & Tan, Kai Syng 2017 ‘running into each other: run! run! run! a festival and a collaboration’

Lesch, Klaus-Peter 2018 ‘‘Shine bright like a diamond!’: is research on high-functioning ADHD at last entering the mainstream?’ Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 59/3:191–192

Mansouri, Fethi; Johns, Amelia & Marotta, Vince 2017 ‘Critical global citizenship: contextualising citizenship and globalisation’ Journal of Citizenship and Globalisation Studies 1/1:1–9

McKinsey & Company 2015 ‘Diversity Matters’ Available at: https://www.britishland.com/~/media/Files/B/British-Land-V4/documents/mckinsey-report.pdf Accessed 3.5.2020

Montserrat, Jade; Wee, Cecilia & Gamaker, Michelle Williams 2020 ‘‘We need collectivity against structural and institutional racism in the cultural sector’’ ArtsProfessional

Mowlem, Florence D et al. 2016 ‘Validation of the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale and the Relationship of Mind Wandering to Impairment in Adult ADHD’ Journal of Attention Disorders:1087054716651927

Nanus, Warren Bennis; Burt 1985 Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge Harper

Nesta 2019a ‘Fostering neurodiversity in teams’ nesta Available at: https://www.nesta.org.uk/feature/innovation-squared/fostering-neurodiversity-teams/ Accessed 7.4.2020

  2019b ‘Nine emerging trends in the management and support of innovation’ nesta Available at: https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/nine-emerging-trends-in-the-management-and-support-of-innovation/ Accessed 31.8.2020

  2020 ‘Innovation Squared’ nesta Available at: https://www.nesta.org.uk/feature/innovation-squared/ Accessed 31.8.2020

Oliver, Daniel 2020 ‘Daniel Oliver Performance’ 2015 Available at: https://www.danieloliverperformance.com Accessed 15.8.2020

Orduña, Nahia 2019 ‘The next talent opportunity for the digital workplace? Neurodiversity’ World Economic Forum Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/neurodiversity-workplace-opportunity/ Accessed 13.8.2019

Patten, Mags 2018 ‘Creating cultural leadership for the 21st century’ Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/blog/creating-cultural-leadership-21st-century Accessed 31.12.2019

Patterson, Gavin 2018 ‘Neurodiversity is an asset in the digital age’ World Economic Forum Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/neurodiversity-asset-digital-age/ Accessed 13.8.2019

Rashed, Mohammed Abouelleil 2019 Madness and the demand for recognition: A philosophical inquiry into identity and mental health activism New York, NY: OUP Oxford

Rosqvist, Hanna Bertilsdotter; Chown, Nick & Stenning, Anna eds. 2020 Neurodiversity Studies: A New Critical Paradigm 1 edition ed Routledge

Russell, Ginny 2020 ‘Critiques of the Neurodiversity Movement’ in 2020 Springer Singapore: 287–303

Sanchez-Runde, Carlos; Nardon, Luciara & Steers, Richard M 2011 ‘Looking beyond Western leadership models: Implications for global managers’ Organizational Dynamics 40/3:207–213

Santoso, Budi 2019 ‘EXPLORATION OF ASIA LEADERSHIP THEORY: LOOKING FOR AN ASIAN ROLE IN THE FIELD OF LEADERSHIP THEORY’ ournal of Leadership in Organizations 1(1)

Sedgwick, Jane Ann; Merwood, Andrew & Asherson, Philip 2018 ‘The positive aspects of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a qualitative investigation of successful adults with ADHD’ ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders

Selznick, Philip 1984 Leadership in Administration: A Sociological Interpretation University of California Press

Shape Arts 2020 ‘Social Model of Disability’ Shape Arts Available at: https://www.shapearts.org.uk/news/social-model-of-disability?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzN71BRCOARIsAF8pjfi6Ys_y3kD0EtTOfA7SYgLuNhf7n3nQAomyldhgeHg3cThlg24Fcb4aAmW7EALw_wcB Accessed 10.5.2020

Silberman, Steve 2015 NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently

Sonne, Robert D Austin and Thorkil 2014 ‘The Dandelion Principle: Redesigning Work for the Innovation Economy’ MIT Sloan Management Review Available at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-dandelion-principle-redesigning-work-for-the-innovation-economy/ Accessed 31.8.2020

Stansbie, Lisa 2019 ‘Fields of Vision: Arts and Sport Communities and Methods of Practice’ ATHENS JOURNAL OF SPORTS 6/4:181–194

Tan, Chin Hwee 2017 ‘Investing in Others | HuffPost’ Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/investing-in-others_b_11326278 Accessed 6.9.2020

Tan, Kai Syng 2016 ‘(Dys)service Cat(Suit): ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia, conceptual artwork’ Wellcome Collection Available at: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/kkng8gjs Accessed 15.8.2020

  2020a ‘Novel viruses require artful solutions – RSA’ Royal Society of the Arts blog Available at: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-comment/2020/05/novel-viruses-require-artful-solutions Accessed 25.7.2020

  2020b ‘Power, Play and Pedagogy through the PowerPoint Performance-Lecture’ International Journal of Management and Applied Research

Tan, Kai Syng & Asherson, Philip 2018 ‘How ‘lofty’ art can help the medical world reimagine mental health’ The Conversation Available at: http://theconversation.com/how-lofty-art-can-help-the-medical-world-reimagine-mental-health-105689 Accessed 31.10.2018

Tan, Kai Syng & Backdoor Broadcasting Company ‘Too much/not enough: Neurodiversity and Cultural Production’

Tan, Kai Syng & Tan, Chin Hwee 2020 ‘Let’s take numbers out of the equation for the ‘new normal’ – The Manila Times’ 16/07/2020

Toffler, Alvin 1970 Future Shock Random House

Training Industry 2019 ‘The Leadership Training Market’ Training Industry Available at: https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/leadership/the-leadership-training-market/ Accessed 29.8.2020

UKRI 2020 ‘Themes and programmes – UK Research and Innovation’ Available at: https://www.ukri.org/research/themes-and-programmes/ Accessed 20.1.2020

Wall, Matt 2014 ‘How neuroscience is being used to spread quackery in business and education’ The Conversation Available at: http://theconversation.com/how-neuroscience-is-being-used-to-spread-quackery-in-business-and-education-30342 Accessed 31.8.2020

Watson, Aby 2020 ‘Disordering Dance’ Disordering Dance Available at: https://disorderingdance.com/ Accessed 15.8.2020

WEF 2020 ‘Tan Chin Hwee’ World Economic Forum Available at: https://www.weforum.org/people/tan-chin-hwee/ Accessed 6.9.2020

Wiklund, Johan et al. 2017 ‘ADHD, impulsivity and entrepreneurship’ Journal of Business Venturing 32/6:627–656

World Economic Forum & Eswaran, Vijay 2019 ‘The business case for diversity is now overwhelming. Here’s why’ World Economic Forum Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/business-case-for-diversity-in-the-workplace/ Accessed 4.9.2020

World Economic Forum & Schreiber, Uschi 2017 ‘Three big challenges for the world in 2017’ World Economic Forum Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/three-big-challenges-for-the-world-in-2017/ Accessed 31.8.2020

World Economic Forum & Schwab, Klaus 2016 ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means and how to respond’ World Economic Forum Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/ Accessed 13.8.2019

Wouters, PF 2011 ‘NESSHI – The ‘Neuro-turn’ in European Social Sciences and Humanities: Impacts of neurosciences on economics, marketing and philosophy’ Available at: https://www.nwo.nl/en/research-and-results/research-projects/i/38/7038.html Accessed 31.8.2020